Flowings of Your Everlasting Taffyman

Receipts for Rights Campaign Urgent!

Hey fine people of the Twin Cities!


Some of you may already know that I  am working as an ally to the Centro de Trajadores Unidos en Lucha(CTUL).  These courageous people not only clean your retail grocery stores but also are diligently fighting for workers rights in the Twin Cities. The campaign to have the major grocery stores sign a declaration of fair principles and end human rights violations has been ongoing for over a year now and the campaign has seen quite a bit of hardship and triumph, but the workers have decided to go on a hunger strike for workers rights starting SAT MAY 21st.

It is important to be able to support them and make this move as visible as possible.
There are a whole series of actions planned for the week of the 22nd on but one important way you can help is by adding your voice in support!

The group I am working with is asking for two things this week to add to the campaign.
1) Collect receipts from all your grocery store purchases this week.
We are trying to convince Cub Foods to change its policy regarding contracting companies that do not use fair labor practices. This is the statement that will accompany all receipts turned in.

 Dear Cub Foods,
We are members of the Twin Cities community, and we are grocery shoppers. We are also people of strong values, believing in the dignity of every person, fair treatment and a voice for working people at their place of work.  We see Cub Foods as an important member of the Twin Cities community, and believe that you take those values seriously as well.
By signing this card, I pledge to have my money follow my values, and to buy my groceries at stores that respect the people who work there and clean those stores. We ask that Cub Foods sit down with the leadership and workers involved with CTUL, and come to an agreement about your role in ensuring dignity, fair treatment and a voice for these working people at your stores.

Doesn't seem so extreme right?  We are asking for Cub to become a partner in changing the way workers are treated in our community. You can get behind that right? ANY AMOUNT FROM ANY GROCERY STORE HELPS, its all about showing them the potential economic boost they could get/or not get depending on their treatment of their workers.

2) Add your name to the petition as a person who shares these values (I can meet you for your signature or we can work out some electronic way to do so).

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So if you have read this far you might have some questions on why this is important... or how you can help further... or who else is backing this group?

Well to start - here are a list of endorsements from people you probably know:

Faith-Based Organizations:

• Jewish Community Action
• Bethany Lutheran Church
• Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
• Spirit of Truth
• Lyndale United Church of Christ
• St. Paul’s Monastery Justice and Peace Committee
• Justice Commission of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and Consociates
• Justice and Peace Network of the Sisters of St. Francis

Labor Organizations:

• United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1189
• Service Employees International Union Local 26
• St. Paul Federation of Teachers
• Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 12
• AFSCME Local 3800
• Twin Cities branch of the Industrial Workers of the World

Community Organizations:

• Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition
• Neighborhoods Organizing for Change
• Centro Campesino
• La Conexion de las Americas
• Minneapolis Autonomous Radical Space
• Opposition to War and Occupation
• Iraq Peace Action Coalition
• Sisters of Camelot
• Social Welfare Action Alliance

Student Organizations:

• Minnesota Public Interest Research Group
• Adelante, Macalester
• Students for a Democratic Society, Macalester

As for why?
I found this particularly moving:

Cub Foods prides itself on charitable giving for hunger relief and other community issues.  In fact, in 2010 the parent company of Cub Foods donated approximately $90 million to the community, the equivalent of $1.73 million a week.  We, the workers who clean Cub Foods’ stores, are often the very people who have to seek relief from local food shelves.  If Cub Foods were to pay only one week of community donations to ensure that we are treated fairly as we clean their stores, we could afford to provide food for our own families and we would not have to beg for handouts.

-All about human dignity. Pretty much anyone can get on board with that right?

So what else can you do?
Check out the action page and listen up for updates. http://ctul.net/hunger-strike/hunger-strike-actions/

Call your news papers, news stations, radio stations etc... talk to people about the importance of dignity in the work place (because these people are willing to put their lives on the line when the rest of us are keeping our mouths shut).  

And contact me if you can get even one receipt in the next week, but especially if you can spread the word or get the people in your life to collect receipts too!